Changeling
by RedPineappleDancingAtNoon
Summary: "Lance was broken. And I wanted to know why." After Lance is shot out of the sky by an unknown foe, Keith realises just how much his fellow Paladin means to him. Just as something begins to blossom, Lance attacks Keith seemingly out of nowhere - he's no longer himself and now everyone is in danger. Will Keith have to do the unthinkable to save the remaining Paladins? Keith POV
1. Chapter 1

**Keith POV**

It happened too quickly. One second he was on my left ready for battle and the next he was crashing, falling through the sky in a trail of smoke and flames. His Lion was dead in the air, comms breaking, crackling, allowing only the briefest sound of his screaming voice to patch through before he broke atmosphere and disappeared beyond the dark clouds of the planet below.

"Lance!"

"Oh my God is he okay?!"

"Where did that thing come from?!"

"Lance! Lance, do you copy?!"

"Guys I'm not picking up on his heat signature-"

"Multiple incoming objects to our right- Urghh-!"

About twenty crafts swooped through our broken line. Blasts of purple and stark white exploded around them. Although they were small in size they packed a hell of a punch. Heavy fire rained down onto us, scattering us.

I heard Shiro yelling for evasive manoeuvres and complying, but everything seemed far away and disconnected. It was so sudden… I had to concentrate. Pull myself together. Or soon I'd be down there too in a flaming heap no use to the team and no use to Lance. Gritting my teeth I gripped the controls and my lion roared with renewed vigour.

"Pidge, what are we dealing with here?"

"Unmanned droids with a swarming technique. On their own they're easily destroyed, if we can catch them separately."

"And what's the betting that whoever's in the ship that hit Lance is controlling the droids," Shiro stated. I could hear anger tinging his words.

The droids backed away and regrouped into a wall-like semblance. One by one blue coloured their sides as if they were powering up together.

"Any idea where it went?" Hunk asked, exactly what we were all thinking.

A cold feeling of dread coursed through me. It wouldn't have gone down after Lance… could it?

"Let's get rid of these droids. The sooner we destroy them, the sooner we can get down to Lance," Shiro ordered calmly. "Concentrate our fire – let's wipe them out in one go!"

* * *

"Urghh…" Lance raised his aching head slowly as the world came back in full blinding technicolour. "What the-" The control panel crackled and sparked as it came back online, triggered by his consciousness.

The mini drones. A ship suddenly appearing before them. The sudden blast of white and blue. The electric snap. Falling- The jigsaw pieces fixed into place.

He watched from his monitor as the paladins struggled to stay in line as the drones broke into small groups, raining fire on them to keep them apart. _I need to get back up there!_ As if reading his mind, his screen switched to his lion's blueprint and highlighted the damaged parts in pulsing red circles. Ripping himself from his seat, Lance dashed down and out of his Lion.

The steaming front panel was wrestled off and clanged on the ground in seconds. Lance looked at the jumble of wires and blinking, broken green lights and a black liquid leaking from a crack along the back of the compartment. _I can totally fix this-_ The liquid halted for a split second causing Lance to beam – perhaps it wasn't a bad as it looked? With a blubbing sound, the oil like substance started streaming from the crack like a struck artery. _Just quiznacking fabulous._

Through the darkening clouds he could vaguely hear the battle above. _Think, Lance, think! Plan B. What is Plan B…?_

"I've got it!" He grinned up at Blue. "If I can't join them up there, I'll fight from here." He rested a hand on his Lion gently. "How many power blasts have you got in you, girl? Think we could give them an advantage-?"

 **Cri-**

Lance turned, bayard raised, too late and caught the blast off his arm, spinning him to a heap on the floor. Using the momentum to his advantage he twisted himself into a kneeling position, morphed energy rifle steadied on his knee. His body shook slightly as pain ran down his right arm.

A dark figure, if you could describe it as that, stood not ten feet away, an intricate gun targeted at the centre of Lance's chest.

Lance grit his teeth. _What the hell is this?_

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The figure stood there. Its face dark and eyes shifting, glowing slightly.

"Not the talking type, eh?" Lance gripped his rifle tighter, trying to ignore the pain. "Well you came to the right paladin to balance-"

"You'll do."

"Wha-?"

 **Swiughh-**

The blast hit Lance square in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards from the proximity of the figure. He rolled once, twice, skidding to a halt in a cloud of orange dust.

The figure waited a moment, observing its handiwork. Lance lay in a heap, damaged arm twisted loosely round his damaged armour, fractured. It watched the small wave of smoke dance from the paladin's chest, the pristine white armour now blackened, damaged, before approaching.

As the dust settled and the world stopped moving, Lance tried to raise his head- Agony penetrated every fibre of his being. Lance moaned; his chest heavy and stiff, the air suddenly hard to breath.

"Sta- Stay- back-" Lance coughed, flecks of blood sticking to his chin. With his left arm, he pulled his bayard round, transforming it back into a rifle, ready to defend himself.

It was like the Blue Paladin was moving in slow motion. The figure easily kicked the rifle out of his hand and knelt next to the broken boy before he'd even registered what was happening. The figure in black pulled the helmet from the paladin's head and watched the boy grit his teeth in defiance, his pupils dancing as they tried and failed to truly focus.

"Thank you for making this so easy."

Lance made a last ditch attempt to desperately squirm away from the figure, his chest, his arm, his head- everything screaming raw with effort-

He felt the back of his head slam back into something stone hard.

The world danced in twain, colours swirling and quickly merging into grey…

"Yes," said the figure, standing up to survey the deathly still boy. "You will do nicely."


	2. Chapter 2

**Keith POV**

My Lion hadn't fully touched down when I launched myself out and at the figure kneeling over Lance. I didn't give him a chance to say anything, to turn to face me.

My sword cut through the air, missing him by a millimetre as he effortlessly stepped out of range. I roared my throat hoarse as I rushed my blade at him again, again, again- Each time I swung the figure dodged and swirled out of the way, dancing, mocking me. If I didn't tear that monster apart I threatened to do so.

So much rage rattled inside me. To hell with honour. To hell with everything-

I swung my sword, cutting down before curving through the air. As I stepped forwards, turning my blade slightly as if to slice round in the opposite direction, my bayard morphed and six consecutive blasts tore towards the figure in black. I didn't wait to see if I'd made a hit. Or wait for him to recover. Turning myself, using my momentum, my fear, my everything, I threw my bayard towards him. Completing my turn I threw my blade to the opposite hand and pulled the dagger towards him with my whole weight behind me, hoping to catch him off guard.

 **Swiinnn-**

A small piece of his cloak fluttered up, catching the dusty breeze.

The figure seemed to float to the side, dodging my blade, drifting as if in slow motion.

I'd hit him. But barely.

Angry breaths tore from my lips, my chest aching and tight. I watched him, ready to move.

He rushed at me in a running leap. I gripped my blade and swung at him, missing. He seemed to be on top of me and suddenly my vision turned midnight. I swiped my blade left and right in my confusion- Suddenly something hard collided with my stomach causing me to tumble forwards off-balance. As I fell down my vision returned, the strange black fog replaced by waves of red dust that clawed my eyes and clung to my face. My body reacted before my brain fully engaged. I twisted round, grabbing my bayard from the ground and fired-

The figure seemed to pulse for a moment, before exploding into tiny black pieces.

The wind picked up, the dusty surface of the planet shifting in waves. I tried to shield my face from the growing sea of red, straining my eyes to see the black pieces, straining to understand what I was seeing. The pieces seemed to freeze mid-air amidst the dusty choas. Then they disintegrated, caught in the growing gale and swept out of sight.

 _"Zzzzz-K- zzzz-Keit- zz Keith- Are you there?"_

For a second I did nothing. It didn't seem over.

 _"Zzz- Wha- zzz-t's- happe- zzzz?"_

What was that thing? Was it human?

 _"Zzzz-Keith-zzz We're on ou- zzzzz-ay-"_

Through the swirling dust my eyes found Lance lying just beneath his Lion. I rushed forwards, tripping, the strength of the wind fighting against me.

I knelt beside him, gripping his shoulders and staring at his face for the slightest sign of movement. "Lance..? Please- Please don't be dead…"

* * *

Assembled, all of us stood around the infirmary room watching the monitor in silence. Lance was safe and, if Coran wasn't just putting a stupid positive spin on things to make us all feel better, he was going to make a full recovery with time and rest. I cursed at my own petty thoughts as I felt unable to accept Lance was going to be okay unless the devil sat up and told me so himself.

The juddery rise and fall of his chest stopped me from losing it like I almost lost it back on the planet. At this point we had all seen our fair share of battle wounds and victims of violence, but I had never seen Lance so… beaten.

"We're lucky he was wearing his suit – even at such close proximity the armour absorbed most of the blast," Coran explained, tapping the monitor with his finger. The screen flickered slightly as his finger made contact.

We were on auxiliary power and it was absolutely ridiculous. If Lance had worse wounds I'm not sure how much of this malfunctioning heap of a castle would still be here after I'd finished with it.

For all of the amazing technological advancements of the Alteans, they didn't have a very good back up plan for when their fancy tech failed. With the healing pods non-operational, we'd rushed Lance to the infirmary area which, to be honest, I didn't even know we had. To his credit Coran really took up the mantle and was scanning and fixing as soon as Lance was laid out on the metal slab of a table, but that still didn't make my thoughts on the entire crappy situation any better. We were barely scrapping through before the drones started attacking us and shot Lance out of the sky.

"Even the garrison had better facilities that this…" I muttered darkly.

"We're doing the best we can with what we have," Shiro reasoned. I crossed my arms tightly and stared at the door. "Most importantly we have Lance and he is stable. All we can do now is wait."

 _What?!_

"No! What we could do is boost the distress beacon and get Allura back to heal him!"

"I'm sorry Keith, you know that's not an option," Coran replied calmly. I noted the tick of his eyebrow. "Boosting the signal would mean diverting power from the engines – we'd end up dead in the water, randomly floating through space-"

"So?! It's not going to happen immediately. Surely that's worth the risk?!"

"Keith… Coran is right," Hunk added. He was trying to help diffuse the situation. It made me seethe. "We can only do that in an absolute emergency, as a last resort-"

"And you don't class this as an emergency?!" I inwardly winced as I heard my voice screech back to him several octaves higher than usual. "You're supposed to be his friend-"

Shiro broke in, grabbing my arm and forcefully removing me from the room in an angry blur. He pushed me into the corridor. I stumbled on my own feet, struggling to balance as my heart hammered and I kept trying and failing to pull myself together. Anger, shock, helplessness – every available emotion was throwing themselves at me.

"Keith!" Shiro gripped my shoulders, bringing me back. The calmness in his voice stopped the waterfall of thoughts washing through my head. "Everything is going to be okay."

I took a deep breath to steady myself, but I daren't look up.

"I know things look rough right now and, yes, frankly, a healing pod and some large patches for the hull would be a miracle," he continued. "But we don't have those and we need to think about fixing rather than blaming. We're good at working with the world against us – we just need to work together on this. All of us."

And there it was. I wanted to retort with something nothing short of poisonous but when faced with the calmest person in the whole damn universe it's near impossible. Worst of all, he was right. I needed to get my head together and knuckle down.

Hunk and Pidge appeared next to us in the corridor with the sound of the doors. Pidge stood just behind Hunk, gripping the end of his shirt so tightly her whole hand was white and taught – it took a lot to shake Pidge and when it did it was like all the confidence had been savagely torn out of her.

I gave Hunk what I hoped was an apologetic look. I was still mad… but I regretted what I said. Almost instantly he smiled back and I wished, not for the first time, my heart to be as big as his.

"I think," Pidge piped up, breaking the silence. Her voice was uncharacteristically small. "If I can dismantle one of the energy boxes from Blue, I can potentially get a pod working." We looked at her with a mixture of joy and then suspicion as the pause indicated a _but_ … "But I've never gone that internal in the Lion's mechanisms before and… well, it could break Blue."

We were thoughtful for a long moment. Pidge started fidgeting nervously and thankfully Shiro bridged the silence: "See what you and Hunk can do. If anyone can get a pod working, it's the two of you." Pidge smiled but her heart wasn't in it. "I'll watch Lance and make him more comfortable – we can take it in shifts until he's up and about again. Keith, I need you in the control room in case Allura makes contact or we have any unexpected visitors."

I nodded and immediately started down the corridor. As soon as my back turned I felt my face harden, my teeth grinding.

 _Unexpected visitors…_ When I blinked I could still see that strange figure draped in black. How he had disintegrated and moved like smoke.

I wanted to think I'd destroyed him utterly and completely for what he did to Lance, but I couldn't shake the sick feeling from my stomach that all this wasn't over yet, that he – that thing – would be back to strike us while we were vulnerable. Why? Because that would be exactly what I would do with my target so crippled.

The sound of the door shooting open and thundering footsteps made me rip around, Coran's voice immediately clearing my head: "Paladins! I think he's coming too!"

We were back in the Infirmary within seconds.

"G… Guys? What happened?" his voice was gruff and his words tumbled out slowly like he was talking through treacle. He blinked up at the ceiling but otherwise he lay statue still.

Shiro placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "You're back on the Castle of Lions – everything's all right." I stared from Shiro, watching his expressions carefully for any signs of alarm, down to Lance. "We were attacked and you were badly injured."

Lance just blinked groggily. I really wasn't certain he comprehended anything right now.

Coran stepped forwards. "We've given you a high dose of medication to take the edge off, but it's important you tell us if and where anything is causing you pain so we can patch you up good and proper."

"My legs…"

God, no. I swear if he's paralysed I'm going to go ape-

"…feel fantastic-"

We all hung our heads in disbelief. I couldn't help myself as a few creative swears followed under my breath – I'd have flipped a table if I'd been sat at one.

Even when broken Lance McClain didn't have an off switch and was possibly the most annoying individual to transverse space. Saying that, pure blissful relief flowed through me. Lance was going to be okay. Eventually. I could see behind his weak smile from the way he scrunched his face the medication wasn't making a dint.

"Okay, time to rest," Shiro stated with a light smile on his lips. "I'll be here if you need anything."

Lance blinked, dazed. I don't think he had the energy to say anything now.

Coran started pressing buttons on the monitor. Thick liquid poured down through the cannula, down to the needle neatly placed in Lance's bruised arm. I watched with an unsettling mixture of emotions as Lance's eyes fluttered shut, tired and defeated with pain.

It wasn't fair. Lance didn't deserve this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Keith POV**

I know I was probably going to regret thinking it but I actually missed McClain sauntering around getting in the way.

 _Just get in there and sit next to him. He'll probably just be asleep. What are you so afraid of?_

Steeling myself, I sucked in a deep lungful of air, slowly letting it escape my lips as I opened the infirmary doors.

For the last week I'd been bound to the training room. Pidge and Hunk were the brainy ones and they were tinkering and building all day into the early hours – the only time I was useful was if Shiro or Coran were busy and they needed another pair of hands to lift or push something heavy. Don't get me wrong, any way I could help I was there front and centre, but I wasn't… _integral_ to anything. Shiro, Coran, Pidge and Hunk pretty much covered everything, including helping Lance while he recovered. Between them I hardly got a look in. I was as useful as a snooze button on a smoke alarm.

It would be a lie to say I wasn't uneasy about seeing Lance in the infirmary. Seeing him hooked up to a machine, skin covered in angry purple patches… I wanted to see him waltzing around the Castle and cracking inappropriate jokes. I wanted the old Lance back. We didn't always get along – okay, most of the time we didn't get along – but I missed the banter. Seeing him so devoid of energy and rambunctiousness made me feel sad.

Of course, as usual, I had no need to be so worried: Lying fully pampered, Lance lifted the cucumber slice over his right eye and lazily peered at me in the doorway.

"Did you finally draw the short straw?" he said, replacing the cucumber slice and settling back down. He was teasing, but his voice was hard.

"Something like that."

I inwardly winced at the awkwardness. Trying to brush it off, I wandered in and took a seat at the end of the room, flopping into it as if I didn't really care about being there.

Bringing my receiver to eye level, I opened up a screen and started scrolling through Galra text. Understanding the written form would be a crucial skill in our ongoing war with the Galra empire… and as I apparently shared their blood, taking up the mantle felt like a given. It'd seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn't realise just how complicated the language was even without the symbols.

Through my screen I could see Lance lying on his makeshift hospital bed, spa-like robes and all. I wanted to focus – needed to – but my attention was consumed by the rise and fall of his chest.

The white clay mask covering his face highlighted the sharpness of his features. My eyes followed the curve of his chin. His dark hair was getting quite long now; for all the gip he gave me for my hair, he was well on his way to having a mullet of his own.

"I can feel you watching me, mullet head."

With a clatter, surprised by him, my hand flew up and my screen scrolled up wildly before it shut down. Losing my place was the least of my problems. I could feel my blush burning my cheeks.

"What… what happened on the planet?" I watched him carefully as his smile shifted into something more serious. "It's just that- I can't really remember anything and no one is telling me exactly what happened." He reached up and lightly brushed the soft gauze at the back of his head.

I didn't want to inspire his nightmares with the image of a hooded, ghoul-like figure, not that he'd believe me. I'd told Shiro and Coran but they'd put it down to the shifting sands in the wind, obscuring my vision, tied to the stress of trying to save Lance from an unfamiliar foe. It was real… I knew it was true. Trust me; I didn't want it to be. As soon as this hunk of junk Castle was fully operational, I was going to beg, borrow and steal until I had information on that thing that attacked us. And if it wasn't already dead, it soon would be.

"When Blue went down a swarm of drones attacked us. We couldn't get to you." I sighed, still frustrated. "Right now we don't know who's behind it or why."

He pondered this for a long minute. "What about Blue's security feed?"

"Damaged. We couldn't get anything from it."

Okay, so that wasn't strictly true. We could hear the fight but it was like someone had draped something to obscure all the cameras. In a way I was grateful we didn't see what happened - hearing it had been hard enough.

"I'm so sorry. I tried but wasn't quick enough-"

"Don't worry about it." There was a definite edge to his voice. Thankfully he couldn't see me wince.

A long silence enveloped us until, eventually, with a humph, Lance turned his head away from me.

I should have said something uplifting or funny, anything really, but words abandoned me and all I could do was sit there, edge of my seat staring like the useless awkward creature I am. Pidge or Hunk would have definitely said something positive. Shiro would have done his Shiro thing and calmed the situation with a hopeful speech. Coran could just be Coran and everything would feel twenty times less depressing. Me? I'm just an idiot. What did I even think I could do to help here?

"Are you… You're going to be here when I wake up, yeah?"

"Of course." I stopped and smiled, hoping it echoed in my voice: "Someone's got to make sure you don't roll over in your sleep and accidentally swallow that cucumber."

Lance chuckled drily, his smile stretching from ear to ear. "I missed this."

 _I missed you…_

The full realisation of the emotion behind my thoughts hit me like a ton of bricks.

Pulling up my receiver I busied myself trying to re-find my place, turning slightly in my chair so I couldn't see Lance through my screen.

I was just tired, stressed. I was still mad about what happened. This didn't mean I liked Lance any more than I did anyone else. It didn't mean anything.

* * *

It was getting ridiculous. _Lance…_ Every waking second my mind turned to him. Over and over I relived my fight back on the planet, combing my memory for information, something significant to help identify that creature which, of course, led me to ruminate on his agonisingly slow recovery… in turn leading to all I can describe as obsessive thoughts about what he might be thinking, worrying about… what he thought about me; if he was disappointed in me.

I'd never looked at Lance in any special way before. Hell, I'd never looked at anyone in any special way before. It just… wasn't me. I wasn't interested in anything. At least I didn't think I was.

Unable to properly focus on training, I'd quit my session early. The bots didn't measure up to the figure I'd fought and my mind was, well, otherwise engaged. I was angry of the distraction. Unsurprisingly I soon found myself in the corridor leading up to the infirmary.

"I know you're not keen to sit still, young paladin. It's not fun but it's honestly for the best."

I slowed my walk, watching Coran gently chastise Lance who was leaning against the wall, arms gripping his sides, shoulders hunched in obvious pain. I could place good money on Lance convincing him he was fine despite appearances – a particularly annoying skill of his that, even more annoyingly, proved successful.

For the last few days Lance had been venturing out of the infirmary more and more, bored of the dull four walls of the make-shift hospital room. We'd all advised him to relax and rest; there was no rush to be one hundred percent and bouncing off the walls, but he was nevertheless determined. I wasn't a fan of bed rest either, but he was in serious danger of damaging himself further - after any burst of energy he was left literally dragging himself round afterwards, exhausted and often in agony. He was such an idiot sometimes. And we even more so for letting him be one.

Their conversation continued in hushed tones before, eventually, Coran left him alone, a worried look plastered over his face. I waited a good minute before continuing on my way towards Lance. I'm sure I wasn't fooling anyone watching the security feed.

"Everything okay?"

Frozen in place, Lance stopped just in front of the doors. His face was scrunched and his teeth clenched.

"I hate being like this," he responded woodenly, eyes firmly fixed on the ground.

I placed a hand on his shoulder lightly. "I'll sit with you for a bit if you want?"

He shrugged my hand off awkwardly and I sighed. Why couldn't I be like Shiro and know what to do, know what to say to make things feel a bit less hopeless?

I was suddenly aware of our hands touching, his pinky resting against my hand. I steeled myself. It took all my strength not to grab his hand and I had absolutely no idea why.

Without warning he closed the gap between us to place his lips softly against my cheek. My mind, all of me, seemed to screech to an emergency stop. I had no idea what I was doing, what he was doing. I wanted to stop to retreat and think, make sense of everything, but we stayed glued to the spot so closely together as if held in place by an invisible force. We regarded one another carefully. Slowly - hesitantly - Lance leaned towards me again, hand reaching out towards my face...

With a sudden yelp of pain, Lance jumped back. His arms snaking around his chest protectively.

"Lance?!"

So many emotions whirled round my head. He almost kissed me. _I_ almost kissed him!

"It's okay. I, uh, shouldn't have come on so strongly…" He raised his head and gave me a crooked smile.

This… whatever this was, it was crazy and stupid and absolutely not in my control, and I hated it and loved it at the same time-

With a friendly pat on the back, he eventually headed inside. "I think we both need a lie down," he called over to me, throwing a smirk over his shoulder. "Thanks for letting me kiss you goodnight."

Long after the doors shut behind him I continued to stand there still frozen in the middle of the corridor, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide, my mind trying and failing to reboot.

 _What the quiznack was this?!_

 _What was I doing?!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Keith POV**

Lance and Keith was not real.

Lance and Keith was _definitely_ not a thing.

I'd managed to avoid him for twenty four hours. Despite this it felt as though Lance McClain was all around me at every waking moment. I blinked and there he was, an image of us almost kissing. All the time I felt a pang of horrendous guilt – he'd been through hell and needed me as a friend, and here I was behaving like a confused teenager hiding in my room, trying to solve my problems by avoiding them! We hadn't even kissed. This shouldn't bother me, should it? What was wrong with me?

Guilt-tripped and angry at myself, I'd eventually emerged from the safety of my room to adult like the rest of humanity. Of course today was the day we'd all decided to be social and be in the mess hall at the same time. Of course Lance claimed he was well enough to be there too. My memories of us in the corridor were bad enough without the anxiety of a potential confrontation and teasing, least of all a public one.

I don't know what I expected but when I entered the room instead of hot eyes spotlighting me, analysing me, I passed by relatively undisturbed. And Lance… Lance just smiled to me before continuing his conversation with Hunk and Pidge. Unadulterated relief flooded through me as I joined them.

It had been an in the moment thing. Nothing was meant by it.

 _Thanks for letting me kiss you goodnight._

That was Lance being Lance. Covering up an embarrassing split second, one of weakness for the both of us. Stress, fear and worry – all that must have twisted everything up and blurred the lines between us. Anyone standing in front of Lance in that moment could have potentially done the same thing... Wouldn't they?

With relative calm, we ate and chatted together. The Castle was now barely functioning and there was still no sign of Allura returning any time soon, but the tension had dissipated slightly. For a moment everything felt back to normal.

Lance cracked up, the sound filling the room. I admired him from across the table, chuckling to myself at his overly animated mannerisms. I missed this. When things looked grey you could bet good money Lance would say or do something to evaporate the tension, even if it was to his detriment. Bad days very much equaled Lance in his element.

Suddenly his expression changed. With a harsh hacking sound, Lance's laughter quickly morphed into a fit of coughing. The colour drained from his face as he wrapped his arms around his chest, clutching at his clothes until his knuckles blanched. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to calm his coughs into gentle breaths.

We all froze, unsure how to help or what to do.

"I need to lie down."

My eyes were glued to him, watching every stretch of his expression. In all my years with the Cuban I had never seen him willingly take himself out of action, away from a room full of people. That hooded guy – that _thing_ – had done a damn number on him.

Shiro stood and calmly wandered over. "I was going to hit the training deck – I'll walk back with you."

Lance nodded and raised himself slowly to stand. Still clutching his chest, Shiro helped lead him out of the mess hall.

Instantly the room felt massive in his absence. Without excusing myself, I exited the room and made my way to the infirmary, all emotions thundering through me as I followed after Lance. My head ached as I desperately tried to compartmentalise everything into teeny tiny mental boxes, but my frustration just brought everything bubbling back to the surface again and again.

I should have got to Lance sooner.

I should have trained with him to bolster his defense tactics.

Be there for him as he recovered - that was so simple and yet I'd apparently messed that up too.

"I appreciate the thought but, as I told Shiro, I'm fine, okay?"

I stood there in the doorway awkwardly, unable to find the right words.

With the occasional hiss, he started on the buttons of his shirt, his back to me. Uneasy to see him struggle, I wandered over and gently clasped the shoulders, pulling the material down and off his back as carefully as I could. He muttered his thanks and I could tell from the tenseness of his muscles that he was embarrassed. Folding his shirt roughly, I placed it on the table beside him and passed him a light-weight robe, hoping that I was behaving as nonchalantly as possible to make him feel less useless.

Bruises covered his back and sides, the wide patches still dark hues of purple. His right arm was so bruised it looked as though it was coated in black. My hand instinctively reached out to him, fingers lightly grazing his skin.

I hated the thing that did this to him.

I hated myself because I couldn't help him.

"Sorry if I initiated anything you weren't into the other day. I'm… yeah, I'm sorry about that."

Logical thoughts abandoned me and all I knew and wanted was to put my arms around him. Throat cramping, I dropped my hands to glide down his sides before running round to rest on his chest. My heart was hammering hard like a jackhammer as I pulled close to him, resting my forehead on the back of his shoulder as I tried to steady my nerves, my heart, my stammering breaths. After a long pause, I felt one of his hands join mine, fingers pushing down and interlacing with my own.

Almost as soon as I'd wrapped around him I had pulled away, suddenly retreating to the other side of the room in horror. _What am I doing?!_

"Keith? Keith, wait-"

I bolted from the infirmary. _I'm insane. Actually insane_ -

"Hey! Wait a second-"

"No."

"Keith!"

I whipped round. "I can't do this- Whatever this is!"

I could feel the sweat budding on my brow. My mouth was scratchy and dry.

He took a sharp breath and looked away briefly, his face contorting into something between pain and fear.

"Kiss me." I stared at him, stomach somersaulting. "Keith, I want you to kiss me and then you can tell me you don't want this."

"I don't know how to feel, Lance. Everything is changing so quickly."

I wanted to be on the other side of the galaxy as far away from him as possible. Simultaneously I so desperately wanted his touch on my skin. Lance... Did I _like_ Lance? Really? When did I start liking him? Or was this trauma - it could be all related to trauma, right?

Gripping the sides of my jacket, he pulled me back into the infirmary. As soon as we stepped inside, Lance brought his lips to mine and I reciprocated in kind, gently. I felt his hand combing through my hair and I pulled closer. Electricity pulsed through my veins. I was excited and scared and had no idea what I was doing, or if I should stop.

"You need to rest," I breathed, heart thundering. I was kidding no one that this wasn't a ploy for more time to think.

Lance chuckled. "You started it." Our eyes locked and he seemed to regard me almost warily. "Besides, you know I've got all the time in the world to rest."

Thinking back to yesterday he'd merely reached towards me and that had sent pain rattling through him. He needed to sleep. And that was absolutely _not_ because I was uneasy about what was happening here, what had finally happened.

"Look, I've got enough to worry about without-" I sighed. I didn't know what I was saying anymore. I felt as though I should be angry but I wasn't sure why, or if that's how I really felt. "I don't want you to hurt yourself further, okay?" The desperation in my voice made me cringe.

He clasped my face keenly, eyes shimmering darkly as he pondered my words. I could feel a warm blush extending over my face as he stared into me.

"Funny. Something tells me _you're_ the one that's going to get hurt."

 **Cracckkk-**

The room shifted sideways and a blinding pain extended up my neck and across my forehead.

As the world began to grey Lance stepped over me, grabbing my bayard from it's holster. Chuckling to himself as he disappeared out of the infirmary out of sight.

"Lan…ce…?"

My last thoughts felt as though they were screaming to me as the world stopped spinning and my eyelids stuttered shut: _Black... Arms dressed in black... Figure draped in black..._


	5. Chapter 5

**Keith POV**

It felt like a sensation of falling: a strange weight rushing towards me, crushing my rib cage. The image of Lance, the image of the figure in black, merged together like a strobing light in my mind as my world slowly came back in blinding technicolour. I suddenly came too, bolting up to kneel, ready to fight.

That thing was alive. It was in Lance.

My fingers danced in the air where my bayard should have been holstered. _Damn it. Okay, s_ _tay calm. Plan your next move. That's what Shiro would say._

Shaking recent memories from conscious thought, I stood and regarded the empty make-shift infirmary. What did I have to work with...? Leaning against the monitor on the floor sat the blue bayard like a shining beacon. It wasn't the perfect scenario but at least I had a weapon to defend myself with.

When did that thing infect McClain? Had it followed us from the planet or had it seeped into him during their battle? I was beyond angry at myself for not thinking clearly; I had been so desperate to save him. When we originally rushed Lance to the Castle to be healed the thought of us bringing back anything dangerous alongside hadn't crossed my mind. We hadn't scanned for any unwanted visitors. We hadn't checked the Lions or hangar bays. All of the usual security procedures had been tossed aside as we'd all been completely distracted with thoughts of Lance.

 _I'm such a fool…_

Pressed against the wall I looked out into the corridor from the doorway, checking both paths bayard raised, finger centimetres from the trigger. As stealthily as I could, I started down the left side of the corridor, making my way slowly towards the control room where I could look at the security feed to track Lance down and warn the others.

 **Zzz-zzzz-zz**

I stopped stock still as the lights flickered as an electrical buzz echoed around me. The lights continued to flash for a further few seconds before the corridor was engulfed in shadow. A dark green bathed the edging of the corridor as emergency power kicked in. I needed to get to the bridge fast. Cursing under my breath I sprinted towards the head of the Castle, skidding around the corners-

Coran! I checked my surroundings for imminent attack before dashing to the older Altean's side, crumpled in a heap just outside the bridge. A nasty purple bruise was spreading across his forehead, but otherwise he was thankfully unharmed.

Straining my hearing, I couldn't hear anything on the other side of the doors. It was burst in or burst in. I counted five ticks before pressing the keypad, launching myself into the room in a diving roll, bayard crackling with energy as I scouted round the dimly lit room for movement. Nothing.

Keeping myself on edge, I activated the security feed on the main screen, thanking the stars that the security line was one of the only parts of the Castle that continued to work in emergency mode. The Castle was in such bad shape all the usual parts probably wouldn't have enough power to even try to kick-start. Well, not without Pidge's help. Luckily that thing with it's claws in Lance didn't know that. Hell, Lance himself probably didn't even know that, so even if their minds were conencted… I shook the thought from my head. That wasn't something I wanted to think about. And it certainly wouldn't help me fight the quiznaking thing.

I combed through the different floors, the different rooms- _Where is he?!_ Two symbols flashed in red at the corner of the screen. I navigated to the camera covering the training deck to see Shiro crashing on the doors, trying to get out. A similar story was playing out in the Cryo-Pod room: Pidge was tearing down the wall panels in a bid to override the doors to allow her to escape. I felt a bud of relief: they were both stuck but otherwise unharmed. Hunk… I scrolled through the cameras-

There.

My body froze as I spotted Hunk in the shuttle bay, trapped in the airlock. Breath caught in my throat as I watched him bashing his fists against the glass, face screwed up in a strange mixture of fear and hurt. Not far from him, ignoring the angry blue and white sparks flying from the broken panelling, Lance pulled meticulously at the wiring **,** in an attempt to what I suspected was to short-circuit the emergency power to leave us truly dead in the water.

The metal of the bayard cracked in my grip. Anger, frustration, _hatred_ , permeated every fibre of my being.

Before it had properly registered I was sprinting out of the control room and down through the Castle: I didn't have a plan, but Lance needed to be taken down. I slowed as I approached the shuttle bay, moving as quietly as I could. Crouching, I watched McClain from the safety of the corridor corner.

"Lance? Lance! What the quiznack is going on?!" Hunk yelled, tears on his eyes. "Dude, seriously!"

His eyes were black, completely filled from lid to lid. His hands and forearms were midnight-coated. Down his muscled back, jagged black swirls patterned his dark skin. If I blinked I swore the swirls pulsed and grew thicker, spreading. I watched him with my teeth on edge as he continued to pull the sparking wires from the broken panel, his expression so neutral it was frightening. In an instant he paused and I thought he'd clocked me edging closer. A sinister smile crept his face as he laid eyes on a red blinking light buried in the shredded wiring of the wall panel. I didn't know what it was but it was bad news if that creature wanted it.

Without much choice, I shot just above the panel and rushed towards him. He caught my arm easily and twisted me round. My elbow ached at the motion, but I managed to place a firm grip on his forearm. Straining my muscles I twisted him over me, sending him crashing to the ground a few feet away.

I watched as his body seemed to shiver before, slowly, he lifted his head. His eyes were his own ocean blue, his face contorting into a confused and pain-filled grimace. My heart sank. He was still Lance. But… he wasn't completely. I couldn't fight to kill; Lance couldn't take much more.

Keeping my eyes locked with his, I took a few steps back until I was at the airlock panel. As I neared the panel to release Hunk, his eyes were swallowed with darkness again. Lance ran at me, activating my red bayard into a sword. Mirroring his aggressiveness I parried, using with the sides of my gun as he sliced and threw his sword towards me with all of his weight.

Usually consciously acknowledging that the Cuban was stronger than me would aggravate me no end, but this was a life or death situation. He was fighting – being _made_ to fight – to maim, hurt or worse. I was a better skilled fighter but his strength, when he wanted to use it, on top of his gymnast-like flexibility, made him a difficult match on a normal day. This thing was aiding him, bolstering his strength. The only way to take him down was to fight with everything I had, which would break him in the process...

I pushed him back long enough to allow me to activate the door to the airlock, releasing Hunk. To give Hunk a chance I slammed the side of the gun to the side of Lance's head, sending him stumbling back. Blood trickled from his forehead, bleeding into the growing black across his skin.

"Dude, is that Lance? He looks like Lance but he's not-" Hunk babbled.

"Go," I roared. "Free Shiro from the training deck – he'll know what to do!"

 **Www-cchhh**

The ground smoked from the shot, a hand-width from Lance's left foot.

"We can't hurt him, Keith! It's L-"

"Hunk! Go!"

I sent another warning shot just shy of Lance as he tried and failed to stand.

Without further argument, Hunk rushed down the corridor. I listened to his heavy footsteps until they were but echoes and a safe distance away. The entire time I'd kept my back to him, scared to look at his face – I know if I'd caught the worry in Hunk's eyes my fight with Lance would become a million times harder. He'd make me question if fighting was the right way forwards. But I knew it was. He hadn't fought the creature in its raw form back on that dust planet. I knew what it was capable of. It wouldn't listen to reason.

"I didn't destroy you last time. I won't be making the same mistake again!"

With a growl, he launched himself towards me. I dodged the sword, kicking into his legs, sending him sprawling. He recovered near instantly, using the momentum to backwards roll to crouch, sword ready, for the next round. For a split second his eyes were his own again. My heart tightened as he yelled out in pain and gripped at his chest with his free hand.

"L-Lance?"

"Kei-"

Black spread over his lips, bleeding across his skin to envelop his chin before crawling down his neck. The darkness swallowed his words. Was it deliberate? Did the creature want me to know Lance was still in there, that I was hurting him too?

In a low, raspy voice, he finally spoke: "It was easier to take you all down than first anticipated." The tone was a mixture of Lance and another deeper voice that sounded like claws on sandpaper. He coughed. A small smattering of blood hit the floor. "Destroying you from the inside out. Much like this body you're so fond of."

I watched in horror as black swirled across the skin of his chest, covering his rib cage with ornate black brush-like strokes. The black… I remembered his hands and how he'd pulled the wiring from the panel earlier. A normal person would have been burnt. The hairs on my arms stood on edge at the thought - the shadows covering Lance's skin were acting almost like a buffer, absorbing the pain and damage.

"Who sent you?! Why are you here?!"

"Does it matter?"

"Why Lance? Why not fight us in your true form?!" I shot back venomously.

Lance smiled. "The Black Paladin was my original target. His mind is so broken a pinprick would have moulded him into a perfect vessel." I gritted my teeth to stem my reaction. "But this one was just as easy to take down once drawn away from the pack. So many thoughts and feelings. Should he, shouldn't he. There's a lot on this one's mind to distract him from danger."

I hoped Shiro was free and was on his way. I couldn't do this by myself. Not with Lance.

He ran at me, the darkness of his eyes pouring across his face. As I parried the sword to the side, I didn't clock his fist coming towards me until it was too late. I stumbled back, falling to the ground, pain exploding over my face. The blue bayard clattered to the ground, sliding across the floor away from me. Blinking wildly, I grabbed at the wall to help me stand-

 **Swinnn-**

The blade of the red sword sliced into the wall inches from my head. Before I could react, Lance's hand was at my throat, slamming my head back against the cool steel of the corridor wall. I growled and pushed back, trying to hold him off or push him off balance, but I was heavily pinned down. Lance grunted as he tried and failed to pull the blade firmly lodged in the wall.

"Lance! I know you're in there! Help me and fight back!"

I gasped desperately as Lance's right hand joined its twin at my throat, his fingers tightening, clamping down hard on my windpipe.

"It is too easy to break you, Paladin. All I had to do was make the first move and you were putty in this one's hands. How pathetic."

Suddenly the grip on my throat weakened and Lance's blue eyes shone from the black. The black swirling over his skin twisted back and forth, to and from his eyes, as he fought to reclaim control. He sat back slightly but he couldn't remove his shaking hands from my neck.

"K-Keith," he stuttered, blood oozing from the sides of his mouth. "You have to k-kill me to get him o-out-"

Before tears could flow, darkness consumed him again and his grip started to tighten. Wanting nothing but not to hurt him further, I kicked into him and, with a roar halfway between Lance and the sandpaper-y creature's, he stumbled backwards. Black dots threatened my vision as I bolted up and after him, hitting into him, sending him flailing backwards. With an angry yell I punched the panel, closing the airlock doors.

Gritting his teeth he slammed his blackened fists against the glass over and over again.

"You can't kill me, Red Paladin! You care too much about the Blue one!"

Against every fibre of my being, I slammed the eject button.


End file.
